An afternoon with the Dursleys
by MaddforYou
Summary: Harry and his cousin Dudley meet about once a year. An occasion dreaded by all the children.


July 23, 2015

Dudley

It was a quiet afternoon on Wisteria Walk, the steady buzz of the air conditioner was only disturbed by the occasional crinkle of a newspaper. Dudley Dursley had taken the afternoon off and was enjoying a couple of moments of relaxation before his cousin was due to arrive. Ellen was in the kitchen finishing the bread. She was an astounding cook; probably the main reason Dudley married her. He knew he loved her from the moment he first tried her apple strudel. She was a plump woman with kind eyes, a soft face, and dark brown hair. Dudley never minded about her size though, he always thought of her as a real woman, not the whimsy frail things due to break over anything slightly straining.

"What time did they say," Ellen called from the kitchen, "three o'clock?"

"Yes, Ellen, they said three." Dudley replied. He was well aware that that the time was drawing nearer, close to ten minutes away.

Just then a small squat boy with dark brown hair and pale eyes shuffled into the living room. "Dad, I don't like it when they come." He said as he plopped down on the sofa across from his father. "Weird stuff always happens when they are here. Almost like magic. Remember last time the oldest boy said to me that he was a…"

"Now Stuart, they are my cousins and I won't have you calling them weird." Dudley grunted, cutting off his son. "Remember Lily? She's about your age. I believe she just turned seven too. Now you will be polite to them or no seconds on dessert."

"Alright dad," he said with a huff as he got up to leave the room.

Dudley knew that Stuart would probably spend the remainder of his waiting in his room, where he could play his x-box in peace. But the Potters were very punctual people and the doorbell rang at five to three.

"Stuart!" his mother called up the stairs meaning for him to come greet the guests. Dudley went to get the door. Five people stood in the door frame, a man with dark untidy hair and glasses, a woman with vivid red hair, and their three children, the two oldest were boys who looked to be about nine and ten and the youngest being a freckled little girl around seven.

"My goodness Stuart, look how big you've gotten," said the man with dark and untidy hair.

"Thanks Cousin Harry," Stuart forced a smile as he stepped down the last few stairs.

It seemed the youngest, Lily, was doing her best to hide behind her mother as the family stepped over the threshold into the house. Her cheeks were flushing all the way to her auburn roots as James and Albus moved in front of their father somewhat defiantly.

"James! It's so good to see you, and Albert, you look just like your father." Dudley said as he did his best to cover the awkwardness that was beginning to flood the room. He was determined to have a pleasant afternoon.

"It's Albus," said the dark-haired boy, scowling at the large, beefy man in front of him.

"Well, let's get into the kitchen. I have just finished making tea and cranberry bread," said Ellen, with an air of forced cheeriness, perhaps in an attempt to hide her husband's name blunder and cover the slight tension that seemed to replace the awkwardness.

"Sounds wonderful," said Ginny giving a sharp look to Albus who shrugged as they followed their hosts into the kitchen.

It was a neat kitchen. Dudley saw Harry looking around, slightly apprehensive. He must be remembering the kitchen of their childhood. This kitchen was very similar, but then again, what did one expect when choosing a house only two streets away from his parents. Dudley thought it was wise at the time, what with Ellen pregnant with Stuart and himself beginning work at his father's company and all. And they had been very happy in this home. But Harry's expression made him somewhat uneasy.

"Kids why don't you run along and go play out in the garden," Ellen suggested, opening the back door to let the children out. They passed her one by one with James and Albus in the lead and Stuart bobbing along behind them. Lily trudged behind the boys only after an encouraging yet forceful nudge from her mother.

After the children were outside (James and Albus had made a beeline for the biggest tree in the yard and began climbing it, while Lily and Stuart were playing some kind of chase game) and the tea was poured, the mildly forced conversation began. Harry asked about Stuart's schooling and Ellen commented on how fast the children were growing. It was very dull to Dudley who thought the conversation was very strained and maybe even slightly uncomfortable. Yet this is the way these visits always happened. Given his history with Harry, he wasn't very surprised. But he tried his best to get along with the cousin he had once tortured mercilessly, something his parents could never say.

"Dudley I heard you took over your father's business," Ginny said across the table, cutting into his thoughts.

"Why yes I did," said Dudley, quite taken aback. How could she possibly know this? "I am surprised that you heard."

"Harry and I think it wise to follow along with the mug.. I mean regular paper as well as ours. It helps us to keep in touch with the world outside our own." Ginny said simply.

"I'm impressed." said Dudley, regaining his composure. "Most of the people in the office didn't even know about the transaction until it happened. My father decided the time was quite ripe to retire, after of course, he had yelled himself hoarse at some new employee who brought him the wrong brand of coffee. After taking a week to revive from the throat infection that followed, he decided that he was just too old and it was his time to leave. Not to mention the young man's threat of a law suit."

"Good old Uncle Vernon. He hasn't changed a bit," said Harry as he had finally managed to swallow the tea he had choked on while laughing at Dudley's story.

At that precise moment a high pitched scream could be heard from the garden. The four jumped up at once. Before anyone could reach the door, however, it was slammed open by a very disgruntled Stuart who came running in closely followed by an equally disgruntled Lily. They both began to talk at once.

"He shoved me.."

"..fire everywhere!"

"..he made me so mad.."

"Alright, alright, one at a time, Stuart, what happened?" Harry asked crouching to their level.

"Well we were playing a game of tag and we were having fun. I accidentally knocked Lily down. She got really mad at me and fire sprang up all around me. But it was gone after I screamed." There was a sharp intake of breath. James and Albus entered the kitchen at that time, both fighting back laughter.

"Now Stuart are you sure.." Dudley began

"It was only an accident!" Lily interjected. "I didn't mean to start the fire, but Stuart shoved me to the ground and I got really angry. I made it go away though," she added hastily.

"James, Albus, where were you when this was happening? Having a good laugh I suppose?" Ginny snapped at her boys.

"Mum come on, you know what Lily's like, there was nothing we could have done. Like Lily said, the fire was out in seconds," James retorted. He looked slightly irritated at having been blamed for the incident.

"How did she do it?" Stuart asked, "How did she make the fire?"

"Let's go for a walk shall we?" Dudley said, cutting off his son and trying to relieve some of the tension that had sneaked up again. "Still remember the old neighborhood Harry?"

"Yes, good, let's go for a walk," replied Harry, then quietly so only Lily and her mother could hear, "We will have to discuss controlling your temper when we get home." Lily nodded sadly.

Harry had warned Dudley that something like this might happen. Harry assured him though, that he told his kids Stuart that had no knowledge of their interesting background and that Cousin Dudley wanted to keep it that way. But Harry said that young children, especially Lily's age, had a very hard time controlling their magic and that they would have to make something up if an unfortunate situation arose. It seemed to Dudley that a walk would be a good solution. Stuart had a short attention span after all and he would probably forget about it soon, at least. It was the best Dudley could hope for.

The Dursleys and their guests made their way out the front door and across the lawn. It was just before dusk and the air was warm and pleasant. Stuart, who had walked the neighborhood hundreds of times interested himself in a large stick and ran ahead of the group. Harry was reminiscing, telling his family of his favorite haunts in the summers past. As they turned left to go down Magnolia Crescent, a narrow little road across from the park, Harry paused.

"This is where I first saw Sirius," he said, "He was right there, behind those bushes. He startled me and I fell, I didn't know that the huge menacing dog was actually my godfather. And this is where the Knight Bus almost squished me after my fall." Harry continued, pointing to the curb by his feet.

"Really?" asked Albus eyes shining with excitement, "Sirius was here?" The Potter kids seemed very interested in this and ran over to the bushes their father pointed at to have a look.

"Your godfather was a dog?" asked Stuart looking skeptically at his cousin.

"Cousin Harry meant to say that his godfather was actually next to the huge dog," said Dudley, again attempting to cover the truth from his son.

"I sure did," said Harry smiling. James and Albus were again trying to supress laughter.

"Incidentally," continued Dudley in a lower tone so only Harry could hear, "was this the same godfather who escaped from prison, the one who murdered all those people?"

"The very same," said Harry smiling more broadly, "however, as it were to transpire, he never actually killed any of those people and was wrongly imprisoned in the first place. I guess I forgot to mention that part to you."

Dudley nodded and they continued to walk down the narrow street. "Harry I don't know if you remember," Dudley said, as the group reached a sort of alley way between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk "that this is the alley where you saved my life."

"I do remember," replied Harry, "all too vividly."

"Harry saved your life, dear? From what?" Ellen asked looking shocked.

Dudley had to be careful in his response, he had told Ellen about the Potter's secret, but it wasn't really something he wanted Stuart to know just yet, if ever. Harry seemed to be following his lead. But Stuart seemed unconcerned; he was again ahead of the group playing with some rocks on the ground.

"Well we were attacked," said Dudley quietly, "one night in late July or August when we were about 15. We were walking home and.. and the sky went black. It was horrible; they took away the warmth of the night. They made me feel like I'd never be cheerful again. Those creatures, what were they again, Harry?"

"Dementors," Harry said, "truly heinous beasts that used to guard the wizard's prison."

Ellen looked shocked and was about to say something, perhaps to question more about the beasts, but she stopped short when she noticed that Stuart was wondering back over to the group.

"What did we stop for?" he asked.

"We were just admiring the flowers," said Ginny, "Lead on Stuart, you know the way around here."

The small boy turned happily and marched out in front. The rest of the group followed in near silence. Albus and James were whispering to each other and Lily was following close behind, trying to hear what they were saying. Soon they were turning down a street very familiar to both Dudley and Harry. It was Privet Drive. Stuart stopped in front of Number 4.

"This is where my grandparents used to live," he said proudly, pointing to the house of Dudley's childhood.

"Used to live..?" Asked Harry.

"Yes, they moved to Majorca after my father retired," said Dudley. He noticed that Harry was wearing the same expression that he had on back in the kitchen as he looked at the house. Dudley felt another pang of guilt in his stomach.

"Look Harry, I know it can't have been easy for you all those years. And I know I didn't make it any easier." Dudley muttered, "I guess I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I can't imagine what it would have been like if the situation had been reversed. They should have treated you better. _We_ should have treated you better."

"It's okay Dudley," Harry said, "things turned out alright for me." He smiled and grabbed his wife around the waist. "If it wasn't for you lot I wouldn't be so incredible humbled by everything I have now." Ginny laughed and kissed her husband on the cheek. Dudley smiled feebly. He felt a little better after apologizing. Like a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders that he didn't even know was there.

Soon their little walk had taken them back to Wisteria Walk and it was time for the Potters to say goodbye.

"Next time at our house then," Ginny beamed as she hugged Ellen.

"Thanks Dudley," said Harry shaking his cousin's hand, "we had a really good time."

"Any time Harry," replied Dudley.

The Potters were soon all loaded up in the car and they backed out of the driveway. Dudley watched as they pulled around the corner and out of sight. "This visit hadn't been so bad," he thought as he put his arm around his wife and followed his son inside. He knew it would be almost a year before he would be seeing them again. The thought almost saddened him, as he sat down in his favorite chair to enjoy the evening news, almost.


End file.
